I directed this fairly appalling play for the Peace Corps Hungarian national high school English drama competition in 1994 with my students at the gimnazium and szakkezepiskola in Hajdunanas, Hungary. It was short and the cast was small - it was the only English-language play I could find in libraries in Debrecen and Budapest that fit those needs, from an antique volume of plays for youths. I had actors from both the college-bound and vocational/technical sides - perhaps their only experience mingling at school. We won our regional completion! - and performed at nationals, where we came in 4th. (The announced winning places were 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, so no doubt every other troupe also was assured it came in 4th.) The judges assured us that they could tell that Juci, whose facility with languages did not extend to her accent, really was doing an Irish accent. And we did get some laughs.

That Irish accent, the class and race stereotypes, the sexism and child abuse allegory of a gentlemanly ogre eating little girls…what was I thinking??? On the other hand, the reveal of the female Irish cook’s subversion of all those elements and her power is a nice bit of confounding stereotypes. And…it was short with a small cast. I apologize for nothing.